Evolution of Human Resource Department

Discussion: Evolution of HR

HR has evolved from mainly hiring and paying employees to perform organizational functions to being embedded within the larger system of the organization’s strategy implementation. Today, HR’s focus is more centered on aligning its functions with the organizational strategy, to create and sustain a competitive advantage. This shift in HR has also created a need for HR professionals with a new set of skills and who can act as competent and successful strategic partners. HR professionals also must be skilled in demonstrating their value if they want to become and remain equal partners. It is often difficult for HR to demonstrate their value as a strategic partner, because HR is often described as an intangible asset that is more difficult to quantify and cannot be tracked through traditional accounting methods.

Respond to two or more of your colleagues’ postings in one or more of the following ways:

Ask a probing question.
Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings.
Offer and support an opinion.
Validate an idea with your own experience.
Make a suggestion.
Expand on your colleagues’ postings.

Classmate 1: (Dannetta)

“Human resources department has grown a lot from what it used to be in the pass. There are several tasks and decisions that HR is involved in, in which can affect the organizations outcomes for current and future success. “The human resource management profession continues to evolve. Originally conceived to handle personnel hiring and payment, the function now aligns closely with a company’s strategic plan. To get the respect the department deserves, human resource managers need to respond to the challenges of lacking power, maintaining a delicate balance between management and employees, and handling the workforce in difficult circumstances (Duggan, T, 2018).” In regards to metrics and the involvement of HR, HR is continuing the mission and vision of the organization with their use of metrics and the future growth of the organization. Metrics are critical being that they allow the organization to point out new business events or tasks and figure out what events or tasks are best for the company financially.

HR as a strategic partner today, is exactly where it should be. The evolvement of the HR industry has started moving in a very innovative direction, and promotes the focus of the organization as a whole. “Human Resources is a strategic business function but it should be also seen as a strategic business partner. The partner shares goals and objectives with others around the leadership table. The partner helps others to grow. Human Resources is a strategic function, but many HR employees are not seen as partners (Creative HRM, 2018).” HR’s future as a strategic partner within organizations should focus on the needs of their organization, in which is dedicated to focusing on creating, sculpting, and retaining human capital within their organization.”

Classmate 2: (Dara)

“Human Resources Evolution

The field of human resources (HR) has begun an evolution from being a transactional, administrative function supporting organizations, into a strategic partner, earning a seat at the table where decisions are made. This metamorphosis is still in its early stages, and the HR function has a way to go before being a fully vested member of the C-suite. One of the critical areas of contribution for HR is metrics, an area the function has been lacking, providing only the most basic information versus the numbers that correlate strongly with overall organizational strategy (Becker, Huselid & Ulrich, 2001).

Metrics

HR’s primarily transaction role has involved functions of hiring and firing of staff, payroll, and benefits administration. Through these areas, basic metrics can be derived such as turnover, time to fill positions, and in some companies employee satisfaction as measured through a survey (Lockwood, 2006). Though these are useful data points, a strategic HR partner needs to delve into and transform these measures in to impactful information for business decisions. Until recently, many HR departments used this data toward doing the work of HR more effectively and efficiently, not to affect the forward facing strategy of the organization.

Conclusion

To move beyond the administrative roles of the past and into a strategic HR partnership, HR professionals will need to determine those metrics that are meaningful to organizational success. Further HR partners must be knowledgeable on their company’s goals and strategies to link those measures to financial success (Lawler and Boudreau, 2009). For example, turnover metrics at their core show how quickly the organization is losing staff. A good HR partner would be able to show the specific areas of high turnover, define the root cause (i.e. poor leadership, inadequate training) and work to show how solving those issues lower the rate of turnover thus ensuring practices that would increase stability, maintain organizational knowledge and create a more satisfied, stable workforce. These improvements could then be linked to decreased hiring costs and higher productivity (Lockwood, 2006).”

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